Vinesh Phogat became the first Indian woman to win an Asian Games wrestling gold when she defeated Irie Yuki of Japan 6-2 in the women’s freestyle 50 kg category in Jakarta on Monday.
The 23-year-old, who had won the bronze medal last time, was unstoppable but at the Jakarta Convention Center Assembly Hall, Phogat showing resolute defence to deny her Japanese opponents any clear-cut chances in a nail-biter of a final.
The final started off slowly, both wrestlers taking some time to measure each other up as the referee asked Vinesh to speed it up or risk being penalised a point for passivity. Phogat saw an opening in the second minute when her gut-wrench was denied by Yuki but the Haryana wrestler took down her Japanese opponents and then rolled her over for four points.
The Indian went into the break 4-0 up but faced a barrage of attacks from Yuki in the second period. Phogat, especially, didn’t allow her opponent to attack her leg but was penalised a point after a 30-second countdown for passivity.
Yuki then pushed Vinesh out for a point as she brought the score to 4-2 with half a minute remaining. As the Japanese went for one last attack, Vinesh turned the tables with another take-down as she earned two points in the dying embers of the match.
In other events, there was disappointment for India with Sakshi Malik (62kg) and Pooja Dhanda (57kg) losing their semi-finals, before losing their bronze medal bouts as did Sumit (125kg) who made it through repechage. Pinki lost in the 53kg prequarter-finals.
Earlier, Vinesh started the day, defeating 2014 silver medallist Sun Yanan of China 8-2 in the pre-quarters. She then displayed her technical prowess by defeating Kim Hyung-Joo 11-0 in the quarters. Dauletbike Yakshimuratova was also swept aside on a technical superiority 10-0 in the semis as Phogat marched on to the finals.
After Bajrang Punia’s gold yesterday, this was the second gold from wrestling and the second overall for the Indian contingent.
UPDATE 1: Pooja Dhanda finished outside the podium as she never looked to be in control of this bronze medal bout. Japan’s Sakagami put in an all-round display to win 6-1 and bag the bronze medal in the 57kg category.